Mack keeps salary, crime dominates council meeting

TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack is keeping his six-figure annual salary as the City Council on Tuesday failed to get the supermajority affirmation to override the mayor’s veto. But the council meeting was dominated by a public discussion on crime.

“This city is basically under siege,” city resident Vanessa Speight said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting in which numerous city residents complained about the rising tide of violence and crime in this capital city.

“It’s a sad day when a man has a business in Trenton and someone is murdered,” said Chambersburg business owner Eddie Baldassari.

Carl Batie, a Mercer County corrections officer, was shot and killed on the balcony of Baldassari’s Regency banquet hall on Nov. 11.

Advertisement

Baldassari questioned why the city laid off 105 police officers last year. He said senior citizens are scared to leave their homes and go shopping.

“We need the support from everyone starting from the governor on down,” Baldassari said. He added, “We’ve got to unite together. Otherwise this town is going to fall apart more than it has.”

The city has had an uptick in crime since the September 2011 police layoffs. This month, in particular, has been a violent one, with the city recording its 21st and 22nd homicides last Friday in shootings.

Residents of Villa Park talked about a recent surge of burglaries in their neighborhood at the council meeting.

“I am tired of having my elderly parents who live in South Carolina say, ‘Come down here; it’s cheaper it’s safer.’ It probably is,” said Sharon Kubiak of Melrose Avenue. She said there have recently been at least six house break-ins in Villa Park.

Another Villa Park resident, Jazmyn Jones of Melrose Avenue, said the residents in her community feel the recent rash of burglaries in Villa Park “have gone unanswered and unacknowledged.”

“I have never felt unsafe into my house until now,” said Jones, a nine-year resident of Trenton.

Rosalind White, whose son Aziz Darrian, 17, was shot and killed in the city in 2010, also questioned why the city laid off police officers.

Duncan Harrison Jr., president of the Mercer County Young Black Democrats, presented City Council with an idea where the city could hire part-time police officers to supplement the full-time police force.

The City Council on Tuesday failed to override embattled Mayor Tony Mack’s veto to an ordinance that would reduce Mack’s annual salary from $126,400 to $60,000. That means Mack will keep his six-figure annual salary.

City Council on Nov. 1 voted 4-3 to cut Mack’s salary, and Mack vetoed it the next day. City Council needed at least five affirmative votes to override Mack’s veto.

City resident Minister Lee Ingram told council to focus on the city’s crime problems, saying that Mack could end up like Hamilton Township Mayor John Bencivengo, who on Tuesday was convicted in federal court of taking bribes.

Federal officials arrested Mack Sept. 10 on charges he conspired with others to extort $119,000 from a Hudson County developer. The mayor, who is free on $150,000 unsecured bail, has been under federal investigation since September 2010 and earlier this year had his home and City Hall office raided by the FBI.

“Pretty soon he won’t be getting a salary,” Ingram said.

David Ponton, who was heavily involved in last year’s failed effort to recall Mack from office, on Tuesday in public comments told council, “If this city is going to change, it has to change from the top. Crime is off the hook in the City of Trenton.” He added, “We really need to get Mr. Mack out of office.”

Mack has said he’s innocent of any crimes. In addressing the city’s crime issue, Mack last month said, “I am calling on parents, teachers, clergy, business leaders, and residents to join forces with our administration in combating the rampant crime that plagues our community. We need to draw a line in the sand and not cede any more ground to the criminal element.”

At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, a poster sat situated in council chambers that was covered with front page headlines of the city’s recent shootings, violence and homicides.

“I hear each and every one of your concerns,” said East Ward Councilwoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson. “We need more business owners like Eddie Baldassari to have police officers.”

Councilwoman Kathy McBride said she wants City Council as a whole — all seven members with or without Mayor Mack — to go to the Statehouse and ask the Gov. Chris Christie administration for immediate relief.

Reynolds-Jackson sent out a memo on Tuesday to all members of City Council and the mayor saying she recommends City Council to support a Statehouse resolution sponsored by Sen. Shirley Turner that would suspend the salary and pension credit of any elected local public officer when they are indicted of a crime involving their public office.

Mack could be indicted within the next few weeks on extortion charges.

About the Author

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman has been working as a professional journalist since graduating from Temple University in 2007. Prior to his current stint at The Trentonian, Abdur-Rahman worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer and wrote a self-published memoir about his 12-month experience of living in Australia on a spouse visa. Reach the author at sulaiman@trentonian.com
or follow Sulaiman on Twitter: @sabdurr.